Potential CP Rail walkout could strike further blow to nation’s grain shippers

Thousands of workers at Canada’s second-largest railway could walk off the job as early as Tuesday night, adding to the transport woes that have stranded commodities across the nation’s Prairies.

More than 3,000 Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. train conductors, engineers and electrical workers represented by Teamsters Canada and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers could walk off the job as early as 10 p.m. EDT if a negotiated settlement isn’t reached, said a Teamsters Canada statement Saturday. Teamsters members voted 98 per cent to reject the firm’s final offer on Friday.

“CP is offering more of the same contract language that workers just voted to reject a few hours ago,” Doug Finnson, president of Teamsters Canada, said in the statement. “The company clearly isn’t serious about reaching a negotiated settlement.”

The railway will continue to meet with the union sin the hope of reaching an ag re em ent,CP said Saturday in a statement. The Calgary-based company has started its contingency plan for a work stoppage and will work with customers to ensure a “smooth, efficient and safe wind down of operations,” according to the statement. The vast majority of the railway ’s engineers and conductors in Canada are unionized and would take part in any strike, according to the Teamsters.

The uncertainty over a possible labour disruption comes after a lack of adequate rail capacity led to piles of commodities being stuck on Canada’s Prairies this winter, including grain, oil and lumber.

A work stoppage that lasts even a week could cause “serious financial consequences” for grain shippers, said Wade Sobkowich, executive director of the Winnipeg, Manitoba-based Western Grain Elevator Association, which represents the nation’s largest exporters, including Richardson International and Viterra Inc. Exporters are already facing reputational damage from last winter’s capacity shortage and a strike could be another service failure to explain to customers, he said.

“To have zero movement on one of our two major railways in Canada is a very big deal,” Sobkowich said Saturday by phone. “I can tell you the longer it goes on, the greater the impact will be.”